[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by HOWITZER

This is probably the best place for this discussion. Was thinking about how the car has re-shaped cities, rail has re-shaped regions (in most other parts of the world) and how air travel has defined inter-city/country travel.

However, in Canada, we have a nice big gap whereby the level of connectivity isn't there such that places intra-province aren't easily accessible. For example, living in Lloydminster, Banff is not easily accessible for a weekend getaway. If I wanted to get there in a timely manner I'd have to fly to Calgary, book a separate car rental, and drive to Banff. Is there not a gap/hole there for the person that needs to travel between medium-sized (Canadian standard) cities/towns where large airline connections are uneconomical and small outfits don't have the curbside services to be successful?

Take NWAL, Peace Air, Swanberg, Regional 1, etc.. They have all tried in various capacities to tackle connecting small cities with larger markets without much success. Would it not make sense for an outfit to act as a shuttle agency whereby you come to the airport, you get flown to your destination, and then you're given the keys to a car to go do your business? When you're done, you come back to this small airport and get whisked back wherever it is you came from, but with all payment, and booking handled through one simple and easily navigable app/website. Or are there other strategies to connect these people?

What are the barriers that limit the success of these small upstart carriers? Furthermore, what can we do to better connect people in distant smaller centres? Are small airlines doomed from the onset?

Interesting thought experiment. Before I get too far down the garden path, do you mean one company that provides both flight and car rental, or simply one website that will handle both (but wouldn't Expedia, Orbitz etc already do that?)